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ahhh... so, on the videos of techniques with japanese knives, we are actually working together with one of the knifemakers we work with and a chef i have spent time training with in Japan to produce those videos. They are working on them as we speak.

Hey John - I have a thought for a video for you. How about demonstrating how sharp you get your knives using your preferred stones, techniques and a micro bevel? There are guys here that are getting crazy levels of sharpness, but that degree of sharpness seems to be fleeting and may not necessarily be practical for professional use (like Salty's tomato knife-weight test). I'm curious to know just how sharp your knives are and how long that sharpness lasts - as a representation of a professioanl Japanese chef's knife. Cheers! mpp

i've thought a lot about this... the thing is i cant think of a test that would work well. For example... the tomato test... you can get a knife screaming sharp using strops and compounds and it will pass the tomato test, but it doesnt mean that its a good edge for food. Also, i cant show the feeling of a cut in a video (i.e. if the knife is too sharp that it just falls through food with no feeling or if it has good feedback while cutting). Those are very subtle things that you can only feel in hand. Likewise, cutting paper, shaving hair, the hanging hair test, and pretty much every other method of testing commonly talked about here only show the "how sharp the knife is" aspect of things. They all miss many aspects of a knifes edge that make it good or bad for food/cooking.

The main point is that sharp is just part of the battle... and too sharp can be a real problem when it comes to kitchen knives.

Seriously though, I can see that. Seems to me the sharper the edge, the less it lasts. It's finding that middle ground between a sharp edge that has feedback and also lasts. I haven't reached the upper echelons of sharpness yet, so I haven't found an edge that's too sharp for my needs. I have found a difference between a very sharp smooth edge and an edge w/ some bite.

You're a clever guy w/ very good communication skills - I'm sure you'll come up with something. Maybe even just a video expanding on what you're describing here and showing what stones you stop at and how you strop, de-burr, etc. Maybe something along the lines of the vid you did w/ KC cutting salmon w/ a voice over. Cheers! mpp